Heading into the 2015 season, the Ravens planned for Steve Smith, Breshad Perriman and Marlon Brown to play roles in their receiving corps.
Like most of their plans this season, that one wound up not coming to fruition. Perriman never played a down because of a knee injury, Smith played in just seven games before tearing his Achilles and now Brown is joining them on injured reserve. Cornerback Sheldon Price has been added to the 53-man roster in a corresponding move.
Brown has a back injury and has not played in the last five games. In the 10 games he did play, Brown wasn’t particularly productive. He caught 14 passes for 112 yards, the second straight year he’s seen his totals go down from the 49 catches and 524 yards he had as a rookie in 2013.
There’s a chance Smith could reverse course on his plans to retire and Perriman should return next year, but the Ravens will likely be in the market for more help at the position on top of that.
The Ravens also placed wide receiver Michael Campanaro on injured reserve this year and now have 20 players on I.R. in total. While the numbers match up, that’s not the way they wanted to celebrate 20 years in Baltimore.